For Just a Moment
by Aleisha Potter
Summary: On a routine, and completely boring, mission for the Ministry of Magic, Auror-in-Training Edward "Teddy" Lupin and his childhood best friend are sucked in to a world they'd only read about in History books and heard about from their families. Teddy struggles to decide if this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, or a horrible, horrible nightmare. Time Travel fic.


a/n: Okay, it's been said that certain stories are a right of passage for authors. And when it comes to Time Travel and Harry Potter, that is so very true. But finding a story that HASN'T been done, well, that's hard. While I love a good Hermione/Remus or Hermione/Sirius, or even Hermione/Severus Time Turner fic, there are soooo many out there already. I wanted to try something different. This idea came to me as a dream, and I couldn't get it out of my head. The only thing I could do, was write it... so I did. I felt so bad for Teddy. While Harry also didn't have his parents around, he had Remus and Sirius and others who were able to share stories, share tidbits of his parents, of their childhoods, of who they were. But what did Teddy have of his father? Harry was too young to have memories of Remus from his own childhood, and none of his father's friends are left alive. I'm sure his extended family told all kinds of stories from Remus's adult years, and I'm sure Harry tried to pass on anything he knew from Remus's childhood, but... the idea that Teddy could have at least a little glimpse of his father in action, my heart needed that. And the little nostalgic feeling I get from making Teddy the new DADA teacher, well, it seems fitting. So, please sit back and enjoy the ride. Also, if you know me, you know my love for original characters. And how hard I try to NOT write Mary Sues. So, I hope you can find it in your hearts to accept Melinda Wood (yes, daughter to Oliver Wood, lol) as the sweet heart she is...

 **Prologue**

Teddy stared up at the dark castle. The world still seemed to be tilting slightly, the ground not quite as solid as it should be. He glanced down at his companion.

"Mel?" he asked quietly.

"Ouch…" she mumbled, turning her head up to face him.

"I _told_ you not to touch it!" he hissed at his best friend. He leaned down and grabbed a hand, helping the witch up.

"Sue me," she hissed, finding her feet before releasing Teddy's hand. "Where are we? I mean, we're still on the grounds, but… we were closer to Hagrid's. Are we by the Lake? The blast must have thrown us pretty far."

Teddy glanced up at the castle again, his earlier feeling of unease increased.

"Yeah, we're by the lake, but… Melinda, look. Something isn't.. right," he told her. He watched her glance up at the castle. She paused for a minute and then turned worried eyes back to him. So, it wasn't just his imagination.

"Ted," she started nervously, "it's not quite right. There's an extra tower, the bridge is old, it's… it looks like old pictures my dad used to show me."

Teddy nodded. He was just thinking that. He glanced farther along and jerked when his eyes fell on a sight that definitely shouldn't be there.

"Melinda…" he grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face the giant tree he could just see across the lake. The tree his godfather had told him stories about, the tree that had been planted the year his father came to Hogwarts and the same tree that had died his last year at the school.

"Oh boy," Melinda said slowly, obviously coming to the same conclusion he was. "We are so screwed."

"I _told_ you not to touch it!" he hissed again, more in fear than anger.

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "How was I supposed to know!"

"It was a broken time-turner! It doesn't take a genius to know you probably shouldn't touch it!"

Melinda was about to retort when the clouds cleared, showing the swollen full moon. A mournful howl echoed through the silent night. Teddy's hair stood up along his arms and his neck.

"We need to move. We shouldn't be out here," he told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the castle.

"What are we going to do?! Just waltz in to Hogwarts? We don't know _when_ we are. We could be at the height of the War! We could be marching in to a school run by Death Eaters. That could be Greyback out there!" Melinda argued, digging her heels into the soft ground.

Teddy paused. She was right. There was no way of telling exactly how far back in time they had gone. He pulled out his wand, thinking hard. What would Harry do? That always seemed to be his thought when he was stuck with hard choices. What would his godfather do? What would the Saviour of the Wizarding World do?

Before he could come to a decision, movement caught his eye. He glanced over to see dark figures emerging from the side of the castle. He watched as the three dark shadows morphed and changed. By the time they were out of the castle's shadow and in the moonlight, they no longer held human form. Standing under the bright full moon was a large stag, a giant, black dog, and something small that he couldn't make out from this distance. But he didn't have to see it to know what it was. A rat. He knew what time they were in. He felt his stomach churn and had to turn away from Melinda quickly as he lost his dinner into the lake.

"Teddy!?" Melinda hissed, grabbing him around the waist to keep him from toppling into the cold water. He gasped, stomach finally empty, and turned back towards her.

"We have to get inside, now. I know when we are. We need to get to the Headmaster's office. It's Dumbledore, I'm sure," he told her quickly.

This time she didn't hesitate when he grabbed her hand and began pulling her towards the castle. All the stories he'd heard over the years, the conflicting feelings and thoughts about Albus Dumbledore Harry seemed to have, there was one constant: Dumbledore was powerful and was a force to be reckoned with. If there was a witch or wizard who could figure out how to fix this, it was the former Headmaster.


End file.
